About Dust Poems

See more Dust Poems images in our flickr gallery

The conventional image of truckies might say different, but there IS poetry in motion in an industry that provides its workforce with a window on the world – from urban build-up to wide open spaces; from short stops to long haul; from gridlock to road kill; from high-pressure deadlines to staying awake; from humans to animals, vegetables and minerals.

There are poets in the cabins of those vehicles regardless that the culture and aesthetics of truck driving and trucking are largely ignored, repudiated and misunderstood.

The “Dust Poems” project is an event predicated on drawing out and showcasing the written words of truckies: words that portray their unique perspective on Australian life (and death), landscapes, foibles, practices, fauna, flora and road-stop comedy and humanity.

It’s a project that through a combination of serious intent and enjoyment strives to examine and discover, among other things: what do truck drivers think about during long solo hours on the road? What do they see or imagine? And what is the outlet for these experiences?

At the same time, the project is a way of paying tribute to the men, women, families and animals who ply the highways and byways of this vast and awesome nation and help keep the country running.

Sure, in an age when belching vehicles seem less and less viable, the agricultural and construction industries of Australia are wedded to long-haul trucking for the foreseeable future. But the road taken by trucking isn’t so narrow as it first appears - in their constant travels, truckies see more sides to this country than just about anyone else.

Radio legend, Mr John Laws, has generously agreed to help The Red Room Company in promoting the good intentions, motives, benefits and fun elements of the project.

How it works

'Dust Poems' has been working with poets both from the trucking industry and poets working either as professional writers or in non-truck-related industries.

The project brings together six individual views of the road by allowing these poets to share their experiences of routes, landscapes, road trips, pit-stops and more. The poems are installed at specific sites in Sydney Olympic Park.

Red Room has worked with artists to creatively display the texts in chosen spaces that include the car parks and wire fences of construction sites. This network of sites was launched on Saturday 21 March 2009 and will remain on display until the end of June 2009.

These sites incorporate audio installations, an interactive map and a “Truck and Poem Search” that invite the public to make creative contributions to the installations. By obtaining a specially designed route map from the website or from Sydney Olympic Park, visitors can navigate the Park to find the display sites as well as hidden spots where they can log their own poems and read others'.

The trucking component of the project has been drawn from our research of drivers or lines that service the Sydney Olympic Park and surrounds, such as fruit and vegetable transport to/from Flemington markets, livestock to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, and construction materials to the ongoing, large-scale developments at the Park precinct.

The poets' writing process has been generated in part by interaction with this industry.